A Lesson Not Learned
by Frozzy
Summary: As Tony Stark's private squatter, Aubrey Rivers knew all too well the faces of the Avengers family. Therefore it irked her that it was the rejuvenated God in green leather whose face she preferred the most whenever he frequented the Stark mansion.
1. Part One

**A/N:** This is really just a brain fart (and me being WAY outta my comfort zone). I wrote this completely for my own pleasure and it took me a week to complete. I needed a change in scenery and this fandom (fandoms, I guess) was where I ended up. Hopefully, I haven't offended anybody with my own OOC behavior, although it really was a stimulating experience for me to work with something completely new. Enjoy!

* * *

**A Lesson Not Learned - Part One **

Their first private conversation was somewhat of an accident; a thoroughly embarrassing one at that.

"We're out of coffee again," Aubrey complained to Jarvis after having searched every cupboard within the overly advanced kitchen of the Stark mansion. "Why are we out of coffee again, Jarvis?"

_Mr. Stark asked me to apologize for taking the last pot._

"He doesn't even drink it," Aubrey began to argue, but stopped when she reminded herself that she was talking to a machine – a technological, eloquent wonder and Stark's scientific son, but nevertheless still a machine. Deciding to ignore the lack of coffee and instead focus on the morning news, Aubrey pulled out a cigarette and ignored Jarvis' comment that Miss Potts disliked her smoking inside the building. The initial inhale was a lungful of heaven. Thereafter it rapidly downgraded to brief buzzes of oral pleasure, and as she proceeded to listen to the current struggles taking place overseas, she could feel her body unwinding from a night of restless sleep.

Loki had barged in sometime around midnight. On a temporary truce with SHIELD – or perhaps just Iron Man and Thor – the homeless God of Mischief consistently squatted in the Avengers HQ. Recently, he had made a habit out of crashing at Tony's place however, since Tony was too invested in himself to care much about his living space. This was also the reason to why Aubrey had been the inventor's houseguest for a little over half a year. By now, she referred to herself as his roommate despite the fact that she didn't pay any rent.

_Miss Rivers?_ Jarvis' voice cut through her reverie. _Perhaps you would like to know that Mr. Laufeyson has awoken._

"Thank you, Jarvis," Aubrey noted and hastily checked if her appearance was presentable.

Last night when Loki had materialized inside the home of Stark, he had picked the vast space of the living room in which to execute his grand entrance. Tony had been down in the basement working, and so Aubrey had been the one to inhabit the living room at that point in time. When Loki had appeared, clad in that old-fashioned green leather outfit that Aubrey might have developed quite the fetish over, she had been on her way to the shower with her embarrassingly pink and fluffy nightgown in hand. It had been a gag gift from her friends, and it was out of necessity that she had resorted to using it, since Tony had spilled tomato sauce all over her last pair of pajama pants earlier that same evening.

Halfway across the room, Loki had materialized right in her line of vision. His face had been smeared with soot and it had looked as though he had attempted to wipe it off but had failed miserably in the task. The coal black hair which contrasted so harshly with his brother's had stuck up in sweaty curls around his ears and forehead and had softened the sharpness of his face. Obviously he had been in some sort of fight that had involved fire, and during the time that it took for Aubrey to arrive at this conclusion, she had dropped the flimsy piece of nightwear to the floor and Loki's eyes had been fastened upon it. In utter mortification, Aubrey had blurted a sarcastic 'would you be interested in a swap, Boy Scout Rogers?'. She wasn't sure that he had caught the reference (in fact, she was fairly sure he hadn't) but she had still retreated to the bathroom at rocket speed – _without_ the nightgown. After a severe discussion with herself, she had bravely exited the bathroom in search for the piece of clothing. She had found it on top of the coffee table, as neatly and expertly folded as a shop assistant would have done it. Jarvis had been the only one to witness the encounter and he had been painfully silent about it, too.

Understandably, she wanted to look her best this morning in case Loki decided to stop by the kitchen.

The news had moved from international to national when Jarvis alerted her that Pepper was pulling up the driveway. Groaning inwardly, Aubrey put out her cigarette and went to manually open the windows. She didn't feel comfortable asking Jarvis to do chores, since she still officially categorized as a guest inside Tony's home. She wasn't all too sure that she would have felt comfortable asking even if she hadpaid rent.

Standing in the middle of the kitchen and attempting to make the smoke dissipate faster by using the newspaper as a fan, Loki found her as thus.

"Good morning, Miss Rivers," he greeted her with a vague smirk. You didn't need to know Loki all that well to realize fairly quickly that he covered up his nature as a trickster with civility. He was just damned good at making people forget it.

"'Morning," Aubrey responded in a politely reserved manner and put down the newspaper as discreetly as possible.

Where Thor was impressive by sight, Loki was impressive by wit. His intimidation didn't lie in his looks, but in his mind. Although his looks certainly didn't lack, either. The guy could manipulate you into dropping your pants for him, and that was why Aubrey avoided him like the plague whenever he did stay at Tony's; she would drop her pants of her own free will.

And that was bad. Loki was bad. He changed sides as often as Tony changed cars. He was thoroughly self-serving and perhaps that was why his friendship with Tony somehow seemed to work.

Today, the God of Mischief wasn't wearing his Asgardian armor, but was dressed in a fashion that looked disturbingly mortal. He was wearing a pair of black slacks together with a hunter green V-neck shirt. The V was grossly exaggerated, cutting way too low than what was appropriate, and laced back together with a zigzagging band. The mix of styles shouldn't have worked as well as they did. If paired with a different set of pants, the shirt could have gone for Asgardian. Perhaps it was.

Aubrey briefly entertained the notion that this was Loki's way of making a mockery of last night's encounter, but she quickly discarded the idea. Surely, he had better things to do than to mock a stranger, even if trickery was his favorite side hobby. Or main hobby. Maybe he actually wore this set of clothing underneath all of his leather. She wouldn't know.

"Were you in a fight?" she heard herself ask, knowing all too well that the God of Mischief was banned from engaging in anything of the sort. That had been a condition from Fury's side if he should ever agree to the truce.

"I imagine it must have appeared so from an outsider's perspective," Loki mused, and with apt interest he proceeded to watch the toothpaste commercial running on the television. Aubrey always found it endearing whenever Thor was around electronics and apparently the same thing went for Loki. Although, he wasn't as much endearing as he was smoking hot in his intense study of the commercial.

"Shouldn't you answer with a yes or no?" Aubrey wondered out loud, mostly because she was genuinely interested, but mainly because she wanted his attention off the screen.

"Would you like a yes or no?" Loki countered, his vividly green eyes still flickering across the screen. "You do realize that if I say yes, you will have to report it. And I will of course stop you from doing so."

This was their first one-on-one conversation and if you looked past the threat Loki had just made, it was sort of turning out to be on the pleasant side.

"Is that a yes, then?" she dared.

Loki was amused and it showed when his interest in the television waned.

"For an average human, you are an intriguing example," he announced with a bemused tilt to his head. For lack of anything to say, Aubrey didn't respond and the kitchen remained eerily silent until Jarvis' voice reverberated throughout the room.

_Miss Potts is approaching._

Aubrey held in her breath of relief. Loki never failed to avoid Pepper and this time he didn't disappoint either. His brow furrowed and with a brief look in Aubrey's direction, he was gone.

* * *

Their second one-on-one encounter took place during SHIELD's Christmas dinner at Avengers HQ. Aubrey had been invited for the sole reason that Tony was in need of a date and Pepper hadn't been available. Aubrey hadn't complained. There had been no need to put up a fight. Loki hadn't crashed at Tony's place since that time two months ago, and word was that he had required himself a place of his own. His truce with the Avengers was still going strong, it would seem. He was behaving, Tony had told Aubrey one evening when Pepper had been out of town. Despite being Tony's girlfriend, Pepper didn't like to discuss Avengers business, and so Aubrey had willingly taken on that role herself. In fact, she was looking forward to meeting Steve. He was the only person who didn't regularly stop by Tony's place for a chat with Iron Man.

She was on her fourth drink and was wearing a ridiculously slinky dress when Jane Foster approached her. She made up light conversation with the woman, but she honestly had no interest in befriending the scientist. While they chatted, she noticed that Tony was off exercising his alcohol tolerance together with Thor. She would need to find a ride home, because she wasn't driving with Tony.

"There is a certain resemblance between this ballroom dress and your nightwear, I believe."

"Cocktail," Aubrey corrected the God of Mischief. "Cocktail dress."

"Hm," Loki chuckled next to her. "Cocktail. What a perverse name for a set of clothing."

Jane looked utterly horrified by Loki's appearance. If luck was on Aubrey's side, the scientist would be too shocked to catch up on the exchange of words she had just witnessed.

"Jane, I think Natasha wants you to come over. She's been waving at you for five minutes."

"Oh, yes, yes," Jane was quick to agree. She took off without giving her goodbyes.

"And they call me the liesmith," Loki remarked in what was supposed to sound like a reprimand but sounded more like praise.

"She didn't want to be here," Aubrey said, fingering the drink in her hand.

"You seem perfectly content being here," Loki pointed out.

"I suppose," Aubrey answered truthfully. "Rumor has it that you've bought a permanent home here in the city."

Liquid courage was a nice thing, indeed. She dared a look in the God's direction. He was studying the guests scattered across the vast space of the cleared conference room and she wondered if he had sought her out because no one else seemed interested to start up a conversation with him. And those who would be interested were occupied in a drinking contest with each other. For once, Thor made a horrible brother.

"I cannot very well continue to impose on those pious friends of yours."

"They are my friends as much as they are yours. But that doesn't explain why you stayed away from Tony's," she added. She was fairly sure that Tony didn't categorize as pious.

"No," the taller man agreed. "It doesn't."

Her tongue escaped her then. "You don't by any chance feel like elaborating on that?"

"Not in the face of insolence, I do not."

It didn't quite feel like a slap to the face, but it certainly put Aubrey back in her place. She didn't recoil, but she did experience a sudden interest in studying how her black heels dug into the carpet beneath her feet.

"So, is it true?" she tried after a long pause. "Did you buy your own place?"

"Is that a request for me to invite you there so you can see for yourself, Miss Rivers?"

Despite being a God, Loki was still very much a man, and there was no mistaking the undertone to his words. She always took sick pleasure in listening to the man's voice. It was nothing like the booming one of his brother's. It was the exact opposite, actually. Trust it for the God of Mischief to have a voice that drew you in like a bad love potion. Like magic.

"Is the God of Mischief propositioning me?" Aubrey asked skeptically, swaying a little where she stood as she tried to get a clearer look at Loki's face. Perhaps she had downed her last drink too fast than what was advisable in the presence of a wanted criminal.

"I already said you intrigue me. Mortal," Loki added tauntingly. He was wearing his Asgardian robes this time (as a sort of defense maybe) and as much as Aubrey appreciated him in a dressed down version, she still had quite the obsession with this particular outfit. Loki's physique wasn't all that impressive by Asgardian standards – and certainly not when compared to his bodybuilder of a brother and Captain Gorilla Rogers – but by human standards he was definitely fit. And in this outfit, it showed.

"I like these clothes on you," she blurted uninhibitedly, experiencing a strange need to come clean. He was so very strangely approachable and in retrospect she was naïve to believe that for even one second.

"Why, pray tell?" Loki humored the petite brunette. He sounded bored. Bordering on apathetic, really.

"They're… tight, I guess."

That caught his interest.

"And I imagine they would feel nice. Must be expensive, right? High quality?"

Loki was watching her with a guarded expression.

"To answer your earlier question, I think you are the one who is propositioning me, Miss Rivers," he remarked, arching one brow in a manner that was too delicate for a man. She frowned.

"Well, no…You can call me Aubrey, I think. Would that be too inappropriate?"

His lips broke into a small self-indulgent smile. "Are you propositioning me, Aubrey?"

She felt tiny, insignificant and human beneath his calculative gaze, but she also knew that she would never get her chance unless she went for it now. "Would you be interested if I did?"

He wasn't taken aback by her question, and she wondered if she really had been that obvious. Then again, he had been the one to seek her out and not the other way around. She had behaved.

"If you present your argument well, I might," Loki replied ambiguously.

"In other words, no," Aubrey mumbled into her drink. Part of her had already known that the God would want her to instigate any sort of development in their acquaintanceship. It would be beneath him to take the reins in a liaison with a lesser species.

"You lack belief in your argumentative skills?" the God jeered. Aubrey considered spitting her drink in his face. He was provoking her, but she shouldn't have expected anything else.

"My argumentative skills could take down Nick Fury himself," Aubrey objected.

"But Nick Fury doesn't compare to a God."

"His ego certainly does," Aubrey muttered, taking another sip of her drink to mask the insult.

"You are not afraid of me."

"Not right now, no," she confessed. "Catch me in dark alley though, and I'll scream bloody murder."

"I doubt anything that drastic will be necessary," Loki reflected silkily.

"Pardon?"

That was the end of their second encounter, as Tony and Thor came charging at them with the intention of including Loki in their drinking game. Needless to say, Loki did his teleportation trick and Aubrey didn't see him for the rest of the night. She ended up riding home with a nearly passed out Tony, while Jarvis drove the car. Once inside the Stark mansion, she requested of Jarvis to lock the doors before Tony got himself maneuvered out the car and up the stairs. Surprisingly, Jarvis did what she asked. Aubrey suspected he held his own grudge against his master. Tony slept off the booze in the bushes outside the front door and that was where Pepper found him the next morning.

* * *

On the fifth of January, Tony returned home with a canned suit and an angry Steve in tow. Aubrey had returned from her morning run and was downing a bottle of water when the two men came flying through the roof.

"It's not up for negotiation, Tony," a fully geared up Captain America argued.

"Oh come on, the guy might not be harmless, but even Bre here has befriended him without imploding or busting her head open."

"Aubrey," Aubrey corrected Tony automatically and proceeded to drink her water until she realized that Steve was staring at her with an adorably horrified expression.

"I apologize for us barging in on you, Miss…"

"Rivers," Tony filled in impatiently.

"Rivers," Steve continued. "My apologies, Miss Rivers."

"It's _my_ home," Tony muttered sullenly and struggled to get out of his malfunctioned suit. Jarvis took pity on his creator.

_Do you need assistance, Sir? _

"No," Tony grumbled. "I need Fury's golden boy out of my house."

"You could be a little nicer, Tony," Aubrey cut in when Steve opened his mouth to begin another tirade. He sent Aubrey a grateful look and she could feel her face heat up. Living with Tony made you appreciate every gentlemanly gesture that was bestowed on you.

"You wouldn't say that if you knew who he just accused of manslaughter."

"Tony," Steve warned the other man.

"Loki?" Aubrey guessed. She couldn't imagine why Tony would feel offended by Steve calling Loki out on something that they all knew he very easily could have done. And already had done on numerous occasions. Then again, from what Aubrey had gathered, Tony was surprisingly sensitive when it came to the matter of scapegoating. Loki was incredibly easy to use as a scapegoat, even after his return to earth and his supposedly cleansed reputation.

Tony turned to Steve, eyes wide and round. "See, I told you that she-"

"Tony," Steve repeated, this time in full out soldier mode.

"I'm not the one telling her these things!" Tony objected. "She's smart. She figures out this stuff on her own. Don't blame me."

Never mind the fact that Tony could simply throw her out if he wanted and she would never get another chance to spy on the superheroes of today. She was starting to suspect that Tony liked her company. Or maybe just the company of a SHIELD outsider.

"Ease up. I'm leaving, so don't get your panties in a twist," Aubrey announced irritably. Steve looked at her with a forlorn expression that really fit him too well.

"I'm really sorry, Miss-"

"So, Cap, could you trynotto outshine me in my own home with that antiquated attitude of yours?"

Walking out the door and trying to block out the escalating voices of both Tony and Steve, Aubrey stopped dead in her tracks upon finding Loki leaning up against the wall in the hallway. He had been studying the floor, but was now staring at her frozen form in the doorway. He looked unfairly delectable and the last time she had seen him had been at the Christmas dinner.

She had no idea how long the two of them were at a standstill, but at some point Tony's voice reached her ears and shook her free from her stupor.

"You, frozen girl in the doorway, get back in here so we can discuss that new marketing package of yours."

She ignored the unflattering scowl on Loki's face and did as Tony requested. She needed the escape.

"Where's the Captain? And I already did discuss it with Pepper. My actual boss, you know."

Later that night, her paranoia caught up with her, and she decided to stay up late and watch cartoons on her ridiculously large flat screen. Living in the home of Tony Stark did have its perks. Some were material and some were clad in armor and wore helmets of time gone past.

* * *

The next day, Darcy stopped by and forced Aubrey to go clubbing with her. Tony had been happy to assist Darcy in her quest and Aubrey knew it was because he wanted to test out that new kitchen table of his together with Pepper. She didn't object when Darcy dragged her out the door. Tony would test his table with or without Aubrey inside the house.

She picked up a guy that night and woke up with fuzzy teeth and wobbly legs in an unfamiliar bedroom. She wasn't proud, but she wasn't completely sorry either.

However, when she returned to Tony's mansion and bumped straight into a bickering Thor and Loki, she couldn't help but wish that Tony's private home wasn't the second home of the Avengers family. They had their tower in the city. She should be able to have this.

"Excuse me," she mumbled and attempted to walk past Thor. It didn't work. The man was larger than your average mountain and he often forgot that fact himself. Seeing that the blond God wasn't going to move, Aubrey prayed that her hurried morning shower had been thorough enough; she had to move past Loki instead.

"Excuse me. Sorry," she repeated, staring hard at the collar of Loki's shirt and realizing that his uniform had actual buttons. The fact seemed so human that she almost let out a laugh. By chance or by luck, she got past Loki without him throwing a snarky comment her way. Thor wasn't as subtle as his brother.

"Ah, Miss Rivers, you seem to have shed your preferred garment on this day. What is the occasion?"

At least he had quit calling her Lady.

Compared to his brother, Loki had adapted frighteningly fast to the social customs of the 21st century. He spoke like a true modern citizen. Sometimes she suspected that Thor misused his heritage. She could imagine him purposely dumbing down by playing the Asgardian card.

"You need to keep your enemies on their toes, right? Can't be too predictable in these times," Aubrey laughed despite the fact that she felt horribly naked in a borrowed pair of sweatpants and a thick woolen sweater that reached way past her knees. She still wasn't sorry – she was an adult woman, after all – but it was difficult not to feel ashamed when Loki was giving you the look of ten thousand winters. Who had peed on his breakfast, anyway? She hadn't talked to the guy since the Christmas dinner, but he sure was behaving as though he was the one she had fucked over six hours ago.

* * *

A week later, the truce between Loki and SHIELD was balancing precariously on Tony and Thor's shared effort in the matter. Aubrey experienced the ordeal from afar (mainly through Tony's bitching) and she found herself worrying all too much about the outcome.

"Thor's reason is pretty obvious, but what's your reason?" she asked Tony one evening when they were watching a French reboot of Godzilla. Or something equally uninteresting.

"Why do you want to get in his pants?"

She had known for quite some time that Tony was aware of her predicament.

"It's his ass, isn't it?"

"I thought we were talking about his pants," Aubrey quipped cheekily.

"Lower body. Same area. Don't tell me it's because you trust him."

"Do you trust him?"

"As far as I can throw him."

"In your suit or out of it?"

Tony angled his head away from the screen to throw her a look. "You're too smart for your own good."

"I'm not smart. And he's not talking to me right now. We've only really talked once, actually. You remember the Christmas dinner?"

"You mean the time that I beat Thor in a round of crappy and overprized tequila shots?"

"No. The time that you slept outside in the bushes because you forgot you had a date to drive home. I still need to thanks Jarvis for that."

"Hah! I knew the two of you conspired on me that day! Pepper owes me five bucks."

They didn't discuss Loki the rest of the evening, minus the three times that Aubrey slipped and Tony pretended not to notice by complaining about the horrible graphics of the movie.

* * *

Sometime around February, Loki visited Tony to discuss a recent technological interference with his sorcery. Eventually, they ended up playing a round of chess since Tony was hesitant to offer his assistance. He needed clearance from Fury, and since the last round of scolding, Tony seemed to have learned his lesson. While the two men entertained each other, Aubrey was working on an advertisement for Stark Industries' latest project and was hosting a phone conference with her team when Tony decided to make Aubrey the judge of a chess game that he was certain he had won, even though Loki insisted that he had cheated. Tony had downright taped the match and now demanded that she watched it.

"Tony," she began, gesturing to the screen in front of her. "I'm working here. For your own company, I might add."

"Not mine. Pepper's. And you can spare a few moments. Come on. Get those pretty legs moving, sweet pea."

Surrendering to her fate, she grudgingly followed Tony into the living room where Loki occupied the armchair that she typically frequented during late night movie marathons together with Jarvis. The advanced piece of technology was surprisingly companionable once you had downed a bottle of wine by yourself. Loki remained silent while Tony literally manhandled Aubrey down on the couch.

"Now stay here and I'll be right back," Tony ordered and rushed out of the room, obviously extremely focused on documenting the he indeed had won his game of chess.

"So, did you let him win?" Aubrey asked the God of Mischief. She was testing the waters.

"Interesting choice of words," Loki smiled almost cunningly.

"Did you?" she repeated.

"Yes."

"You're playing him. That isn't nice," she noted.

"_Nice_ is a relative term_, _Miss Rivers," the God answered, nearly sneering the word and she was taken aback by the sudden display of vehemence. His body language hadn't changed. His lean form was still put in elongation of the chair, his long legs stretched out before him and one ankle crossed leisurely over the other. His leather clad arms were both placed on the armrests of the chair, one hand dangling limply over the edge of one armrest while the other hand was partially fisted on top of the other chunk of wood. He looked horribly out of place amidst the modernity that was Tony's living room.

"Aubrey," she heard herself insist.

Tony chose this moment to reappear and Aubrey could feel Loki's ice blue eyes burning into the side of her face when Tony handed her one of his transportable screens. That was her definition of them, anyway. She was in marketing, not whatever unnatural profession that Tony had been bred from.

In the end, Aubrey agreed that Tony had won. After all, Loki had just confessed to her that he had let Tony win. Delighted with his victory, Tony popped open a bottle of whiskey and then proceeded to gesture wildly towards the windows when a flock of birds flew by. Standing right in the line of fire, Aubrey was showered with the alcoholic beverage and it took her several moments to realize exactly what had happened. Loki's subdued laughter helped her arrive at the final conclusion.

"Tony bloody Stark-"

"It was an accident!"

"Looks lovely, though," Loki chimed in.

"This shirt cost me more than my last paycheck! And it's white, Tony! It's _white_! What if it had been red wine instead of your damned stupid whiskey!" she fumed.

"Indeed it is."

She paused, losing focus. "What?"

"Your shirt," Tony elaborated. "It's white. Going on transparent, actually. That's some nice lingerie. I think Pepper has one in red. I asked her where she bought it, but she never told me. Where did you buy it? I might have to invest in part of the store. This is some fantastic handiwork. Sturdy, too."

"Lovely, yes," Loki repeated his earlier statement, this time without the playfulness from before. Thoroughly embarrassed and prepared to either break down crying or murder Tony Stark with the heel of her shoe, she swung around to face Loki in the armchair, ignoring the way that his eyes roamed her chest with little to no shame. This was the closest to humiliation that she had been in a very long time, and the feeling only increased when she realized that she was pleased to see appreciation in Loki's glacial eyes. She needed to murder Tony. Preferably within the next five minutes. She would figure out an excuse to feed a brokenhearted Pepper; Tony was a dead man. This time it was for real.

"You," she began. "Loki Odinson or Laufeyson or whatever you like to call yourself, you do _not _get to make such statements, and you do _not _get to ogle my chest like meat on a stick."

Loki's eyes flashed and he straightened up from his reclined position in the armchair.

"Uh, can I leave you two to handle this alone?" Tony broke in before Loki could rise to Aubrey's challenge of what he could and could not do. "Because this is starting to feel too much like Pepper's soaps on TV. Good. You two work this out."

_Perhaps this is unwise, sir? _Jarvis cut in. _Miss Rivers is a civilian and-_

"Jarvis, quit fussing and light up the basement. Increase the soundproofing level, too."

"Increase the- _excuse me_," Aubrey yelled indignantly at Tony's retreating back.

"You're excused, sweet pea," Tony called back and Aubrey was certain she could actually hear her doom descending on her when the door closed after his exit. Said doom came in the most unexpected form, however. When Loki's hand grabbed her shoulder, she was preparing herself to be thrown across the room and perhaps raped while she was out cold. She wouldn't put it past the man, honestly. On occasion and when it benefited him, he was a criminal and criminals should be treated with outmost caution.

And yet nothing of the sort happened.

Loki's surprisingly dainty hand curled around her shoulder and after what felt like a trip inside the centrifuge of Tony's customized washing machine, Aubrey found herself on the floor of an unfamiliar apartment, struggling to catch her breath and looking every bit as panicked as she felt.

"Where… where did you take me?" she managed to ask around the severe dizzy spell that was assaulting her senses with the prowess and intention of an angered grizzly bear. Oddly enough, she pictured Thor as the bear while the thought occurred.

"We're at my place," Loki answered smoothly and let her fend for herself on floor while he crossed the room and headed towards what looked like an ancient bookcase. She couldn't be too sure. At the moment she wouldn't know left from right, much less which way was up and which way was down.

"If I remember correctly, you wished to see it," Loki added when he returned from his trip to the bookcase.

"That was months ago."

"And this is now."

Neglecting to answer, Aubrey squeezed her eyes shut when the floor continued to spin below her kneeling form. He had brought her to his place. This was damned private. If he decided to kill her, she was done for. Her heart was slamming against her chest with enough force the break through both tissue and bone, and she was a sick person if this thrilled her.

"Do you need assistance getting up from my floor or would you prefer to soil yourself furtherer down there? It will last at least fifteen minutes before your unease wears off. Teleportation is unfit for mortals."

"You don't say. Sorry. Yes. Will you… please help me get up?"

He grabbed her by the elbow and in a move that she should have seen coming, he steered her upwards and directly into his chest. The earthy scent of rich leather and chilly frost clogged her nose, and Loki's almost melodic laughter close to her ear threw her navigation skills completely off course. For a brief moment she let herself indulge in the steady hold of the taller man, but she very quickly reined such desires back in.

"You're not helping," she managed to protest, referring to her dizziness which had now increased tenfold in the proximity of the God.

"On the contrary, I think I am," Loki noted and to prove his point, he released his hold on her. Her knees gave out and she would have flopped back down on the ground if he hadn't yanked her back up again, aligning his parted lips with her closed ones in what was quite possible the most unforeseen kiss of her life. She responded to the surprise with a confused whine, and Loki smirked into the kiss, his bottom lip catching on her top one.

"Puny mortals," the God spoke against her lips and she let him pass without protest when he sought to deepen the kiss. With every stroke and slide of his tongue, it felt as though her mouth was being cottoned with ambrosia, and the feeling expanded to her entire body with the speed of a forest fire. She vaguely sensed the touch of Loki's hand as it curled around her hip and upper thigh, but when the man was trying to steal her soul through her mouth, it was difficult to focus on much else than that.

He drew back with a satisfied hum and she was completely unprepared when he fisted a hand in her hair and pulled. It hurt and she stilled to the point of complete immobility when the God buried his face in her neck and inhaled a breath of warning.

"Humans and your praised intelligence," Loki purred into her ear. "You forget your self-perseverance, girl."

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she objected to his use of 'girl'.

"My self-perseverance is nothing against the ill will of a God," Aubrey gibed and almost didn't recognize her own voice.

"Puny mortals," Loki repeated, this time is a sneer, and he loosened his grip on her hair so that their eyes could meet. "You believe yourself to be indestructible while in fact you are as fragile as the cities that you build and the forests that you tear down. Hypocritical creatures."

At this point, Aubrey had accepted the fact that in her attempt to befriend the shunned Norse God, she had befriended something else entirely. This was the perverted version of Tarzan and Jane, and Aubrey had never before considered herself a masochist. Tony would laugh her right in the face if she ever got to return to the mansion.

"However, you have proved to be tolerable despite your unfortunate genes," Loki continued, still purring the words when he should have been hissing them. "You are worth my time, Miss Rivers, but only barely. I suggest that you thoroughly consider what it is that you want out of this liaison, before I myself arrive at a conclusion that you do not get a say in."

Sweeping his nose along the shell of her ear and inhaling the scent of her hair, he let her go as suddenly as he had grabbed her. She tumbled ungracefully to the floor, and this time he didn't offer his assistance. He exited the room and left her there on her own.

Ten minutes later when she had regained control of her limbs, he hadn't reappeared.

She decided to leave, and surprisingly Loki didn't pop up to stop her. Perhaps he was a man of his word like his brother.

Once down on the street, Aubrey paused to memorize the location of the building that Loki Laufeyson had made his permanent residence. Soon after, she got hold of a cab and promised herself that she would stop this aimless pursuit.

She already had stopped.


	2. Part Two

**A/N: **So, since people wanted a second part and since I felt like writing one, I've added this lovely piece to the story. It didn't quite turn out like I expected. I had prepared myself for some steaminess (M-rated) and general humor, but when I wrote this second piece, I realized that the story was headed in a more angsty direction. I hope it's still every bit as pleasing as the first (not as angsty) part.

* * *

**A Lesson Not Learned - Part Two: **

Loki went off the grid for one reason or another and as spring turned to summer, Aubrey had convinced herself that the God had pulled the plug on whatever they had been doing. She wasn't disappointed, but she was definitely unprepared when Nick Fury showed up on Tony's doorstep and demanded a private consultation with her.

"Miss Rivers, Loki tells me you've been communicating with him for the past months that he's been absent from the headquarters. I would like you to confirm that."

She almost didn't. If Loki himself had been present in the room, she would have told him to go impale himself on something sharp and spiky. She had never been on SHIELD's radar before, not even as the roommate and employee of Iron Man, but she certainly would be from this day onwards.

"Of course. Tony can vouch for it, as well," she added and crossed the kitchen to pour herself a glass of juice. She was shaking, she realized. Tiny slobs of juice had splattered onto the countertop by the time that the glass was full.

"You seem upset," Fury pointed out, sounding as though he just knew. He probably did.

"If so, that is my private business. Surely, you can understand that, Mr. Fury."

She wanted to ask if Loki had returned from wherever he had been. He couldn't very well have gone off on an impromptu vacation to Asgard. However, she couldn't ask with the lie that she had just told. She didn't want to be Loki's personal chess piece to move around as he pleased, but she wasn't sure that she had much of a say in the matter. The late night hours she had spent on reading up on Norse mythology was a painful testament to that. Loki had caught her eye and she was still fairly certain that she had caught his as well.

"I was disinclined to let you stay here in Stark's home, but he himself assured me that you were part of Tony Stark's life and not the life of Iron Man. I indulged him for reasons that now seem disgustingly sappy, and I'm starting to regret that decision."

"You can be certain that I haven't encouraged Loki's visits," Aubrey replied defensively. "Set up against the will of a God my own will seems rather fickle, I would think."

"Loki is a criminal, Miss Rivers. And I don't like it when he goes missing, especially not when we snatch him back up and he tells us that a civilian has been keeping him company all this time."

"If you spent this long on locating him, then perhaps you should have tried his apartment first," Aubrey retaliated, realizing too late that she probably shouldn't have.

"He's put a spell on his home."

Aubrey forgot that she was supposed to play indignant. "What sort of spell?"

"A spell designed to tamper with the minds of unwanted visitors, derailing them from tracking down the location. You can see why it would perplex me to find out that you know of it. Have you been to Loki's home, Miss Rivers?"

Fury could be intimidating when he wanted to and right now he was bordering on nightmare material.

_Mr. Stark is requiring immediate assistance down in the basement, _Jarvis' automated voice alerted the two humans. _He is testing an optimized reactor core and is experiencing an ill-natured reaction. _

Aubrey would have to thank Tony for including the knowledge and understanding of social customs into Jarvis' programming. The AI could scheme and plot with the skill of a spin doctor.

* * *

She woke up because she had to go throw up that last pint of beer.

With fuzzy teeth, rumpled hair and a general lack of hygiene, that was how she found Loki reclining in the coffee colored armchair opposite of her bed. This was her first time seeing him in months and Aubrey was certain that it was a drunken hallucination. She had had plenty of those.

"I require your assistance."

"And clearly I'm still drunk," she replied and pushed the bedcovers off her body, revealing a fully clothed body since she apparently hadn't bothered to change those seven hours ago. "Anyway, you won't get it."

She still needed to throw up and she couldn't physically do so with Loki in the room.

"So, go away," she ordered. "Shoo."

"I understand that Nick Fury paid you a visit," Loki said, ignoring her uncharacteristic display of rudeness.

"No thanks to you," Aubrey murmured, blindly shuffling towards the bathroom with little regard to how she looked. She was still angry with him, and her brain didn't work all that fast this morning considering the amount of toxins her body was trying to work off. If she looked like hell, then Loki would have to adjust to it.

"I still require your assistance, Aubrey," Loki called after her retreating form, his tone smooth and silky like the purest thread of gold. And it worked. Aubrey stalled her trip to the bathroom and looked at the God distrustfully. She took the bait.

"What could you possibly need me for?"

"Don't act so suspicious. Have I given you any reason to doubt me?"

"My reason is the every breath you take."

"How poetic."

"Tell me where you disappeared off to," she demanded, tired of the banter.

"Is that of such a great interest for you to know?" he smiled wryly, picking at his nails.

"Considering what you left behind unresolved, it is," Aubrey argued, knowing even before addressing the issue that she would never win this argument. If it was uncomfortable in her head, it would be excruciating in real life.

"You mean our last encounter," Loki clarified. He didn't pose it like a question; he announced it like a basketball score.

"Really, what else could I be referring to?" she deadpanned.

"I will admit that that was one of my more brazen moments," he confessed, brushing imaginary lint off his knee. "This, however, is a business visit, unlike the previous encounter that you appear hung up on."

Once again, he went and surprised her with his correct implementation of human phrasings.

"Hung up on," Aubrey repeated stonily.

"You're angry with me," Loki said, sounding genuinely baffled.

"I'm hungover and I'm in no mood to pretend that you don't piss me off, so please go screw yourself and leave me be," she smiled emptily. "And no, don't say that you'd rather screw me."

Ignoring the threat that the man's very presence indicated, Aubrey turned on her slightly off-balanced heel and locked herself inside her bathroom. She had brushed her teeth and was working on straightening out the knots in her hair when something inside her snapped and she hurled the brush into the sink, storming out the door with every intention of physically harming the man in her bedroom. Naturally, he wasn't there and she was left standing like an idiot in the middle of her room with her heart trying to squeeze its way up her throat. She ended up trashing the potted orchid that Pepper had given her for her birthday. She made a mental note to have it replaced without Pepper finding out.

* * *

Loki made a related visit a week later.

"A book on Norse mythology," he greeted her, flipping through the pages of her latest purchase. "Why would you need this encyclopedic material when you have a one such God at your disposal?"

"Two," she corrected him, taking the entire situation in a stride. Loki was unpredictable. It was better to simply run with the flow. "And I bought it for Tony. He sucks at mythology and keeps insulting Thor without knowing."

"My brother is easily offended," Loki shrugged and put down the book. "Have you per chance calmed down sufficiently for us to continue our discussion?"

"Drop the self-righteousness, please," she answered and sidestepped him.

"You would ask me to go against my nature?"

"Yes. And I've got a lot of paperwork to do, so I can't-"

"You will."

Aubrey wasn't surprised when he came up close behind her, crowding her with his taller frame.

"We will discuss my request regardless of whether you have the time or not."

"Because you don't have time?" she guessed, turning around to look up at his face. "Ask me nicely, then."

It was perhaps a bit too assertive an approach – sort of an attack instead of an approach, really – but Loki didn't disappoint in his response.

"And how will you have me ask you, Miss Rivers?"

"Preferably privately," a decidedly masculine voice responded. "Which means not now."

"Stark," Loki greeted the man who was occupying the doorway to Aubrey's room. Aubrey herself didn't know whether to appreciate Tony's surprisingly insightful gesture or detest him for it. Part of her was infinitely grateful while a much more instinctive part wanted to rip his pretty brown eyes out of their sockets. She was in a bad place with SHIELD and Fury. It shouldn't be necessary for Tony to remind her of that fact.

"You look a little tattered," Tony stated with a calculative look at Loki's form. "Been having any internal battles lately?"

"As many as you, I suppose," Loki smiled shrewdly and Aubrey backed up out of reflex.

"Sounds like you're having a great time, then," Tony continued. "Now, I can't have you here harassing my houseguest when she's already been scolded by Fury for fraternizing with you. That would make me a bad host."

"Fraternizing?" Loki questioned with a measuring glance in Aubrey's direction.

"Our beloved leader doesn't like it when you go for civilians," Tony answered. "And this civilian is my responsibility."

"I'm nobody's responsibility," Aubrey objected, receiving an appraising look from Loki.

"Of course not," Tony readily agreed. "But you have to admit it's a bit foolish to want to do the nasty with the villain of the decade. A dimension hopping one, too, which kind of makes him a villain in several universes and increases his degree of villainy."

"I don't-"

"She does, doesn't she?" Tony asked Loki, ignoring Aubrey's horrified look. Aubrey didn't look at Loki to see his response.

"Get out," she announced impassively. "Both of you."

For a moment, it looked as though neither of the men intended to abide by her order. Then Loki was up in her face with a hand locked around the back of her neck and surely her brain had to have short circuited some odd minutes ago, because there was no other explanation as to why she was retuning Loki's kiss which as much vigor as he was offering it.

He pulled back just enough to offer his parting words: "I went jet skiing."

Then she was left kissing air, genuinely wondering where one went when one wanted to try out jet skiing. Later, she would hate herself for not realizing sooner that he had been mocking her.

"You gotta admire the man's technique," Tony commented. "I would totally tap that."

"Get the hell out or I'll tell Pepper about that painting you peed on."

* * *

Things didn't get easier after that. Loki seemed adamant to do his best at pissing off SHIELD (as if his disappearance hadn't done the trick already) and somehow Aubrey had landed herself right in the middle of the crossfire. If she didn't live in the home of Tony Stark and his AI, she would have suspected Fury of monitoring her every move.

Loki didn't approach her again. Whatever assistance he had needed, he hadn't needed it that badly.

When SHIELD decided to put him in timeout, she realized that it was possible she was in love with him.

She wasn't entirely opposed to the idea, either.

* * *

He woke her up by pinching her nose.

"Did you just pinch my nose?"

"I might have," he replied, his eyes startlingly blue in the dim light of the moon. Unable to fully comprehend the situation, Aubrey sat up and let the bed sheets pool in her lap. She remembered that Loki was on lock down at the SHEILD headquarters.

"Fury's magical prison is a pathetic attempt at trying to master that which cannot be mastered," Loki answered scornfully as though he had read the question on her face. "Humans are not built for magic. Sorcery is for the higher species."

She wanted to point out that humans excelled at science; the one thing which he didn't understand.

"Are you drugged?"

He seemed to consider her question. "Not so much that I couldn't find my way."

"Am I going to get in trouble for you showing up here?"

"They will know I am gone, but they cannot track me down."

"They can still make a pretty good guess."

Loki shifted on the bed, consequently causing the mattress to dip and slide their bodies closer together.

"Fury is already breathing down my neck," Aubrey added when Loki seemed to lose interest in the conversation.

"Would you throw me out of your bed?" he asked.

"Why would you want to be in it?"

He flinched, a smooth stretch of the muscles in his neck, and she realized that she had just made the God of Mischief recoil, albeit as subtly as one could do it. Somehow the fact felt oddly elevating, and she could suddenly accept that the man was crowding her in her own bed. He was doped up on whatever unhealthy substances that Fury had decided to pump into his bloodstream, but at least now he had lost hold of his prided self-control enough for her to read his intentions. This encounter would quite possibly become one for the books and not because of its potential to turn steamy.

"Why?" Aubrey repeated when Loki failed to answer.

The God smiled at some unspoken joke. "Taking advantage of my disabled state?"

She hadn't turned the lights on and she was starting to regret that now. In the darkness, it was difficult to get a clear look at the man's face unless he was directly facing her. He was uncomfortable and Aubrey found it a tad bit comical how easily their places had been reversed – and how easily they could reverse once again if she forgot to stay alert.

"Why are you riling up Fury on purpose?"

The change in topics seemed to put Loki at ease, and made Aubrey second guess why on earth she had given him that opening.

"I am not a team player," he answered, vague as usual. "I have my own goals to pursue."

"Are you looking to break the truce?"

"When have I ever not been looking to break it?" he confirmed.

She averted her eyes to her lap, digesting the bit of information. Next to her, Loki was breathing steadily and evenly, clearly not feeling out of his element with this topic as he had with the previous one. Aubrey on the other hand was experiencing severe stabs of stress to her gut every time she attempted to take a deeper breath. She wanted to reach up and run her fingers through that characteristically black hair of his. She knew he would encourage it. He would most likely return the favor, and the idea was about as tempting as the Belgian chocolate that Tony had brought home the last time that Iron Man had gone for a stroll.

"Gods should be selfless," she spoke into the darkness. "They should protect and not destroy. With power comes responsibility and all that nonsense."

"Don't be naïve," Loki scolded her. "Gods are selfish creatures. We have the luxury to be so. Even my brother has his own moments of self-indulgence. Why should we protect species that are inconsequential to our existence?"

He was living in the past. In fact, all of the Avengers were, but nobody felt secure enough to point it out.

"You can't return to Asgard," Aubrey pointed out earnestly. "Our species is all you have, so what's your reasoning for looking to ruin us?"

It was pretty obvious that she had hit a nerve when she was jerked up against the headboard with a hand wrapped tightly around her neck. She could feel her pulse hammering away against the flesh of Loki's palm, and she really thought she deserved a couple of points for not fainting. The hand loosened but remained pressed against her collarbone, and the situation turned entirely too surreal when Loki raised himself up from the bed and straddled her. It was a position that was meant to assert power to the person on top, but surely the hand by her throat had done the trick already. There was no reason to turn excessive.

"I have plenty of reasons," Loki drawled close to her ear. "For starters I could use this situation as an example of your breed's gullible nature."

"Maybe I'm gullible, but I'm not a coward," she protested far too courageously.

"And that is where you stand out from the rest," Loki agreed, lowering himself onto her legs so that she had to cease her wriggling.

"Easy," he purred. "I decide when to release you."

Her face simmered like a furnace. "At least make it worthwhile, then."

The effect wasn't what she had expected.

"I have too little time to indulge in such pleasures."

Workaholic, her mind supplied in a moment of rare wit.

"Then perhaps you shouldn't have done your little disappearance act. Wasting time there, I bet."

Even to her own ears, she sounded petulant.

"You sound as though I have wronged you," Loki noted curiously, shifting on top of her and alerting her that she was still very much pleased to have him close. She knew she was about to let the shit hit the fan with what she said next.

"When I had made my final decision, you weren't there for me to tell you. Even if it had been a rejection, I should have been able to tell you, but no. You don't leave these sorts of things unresolved. It's bad karma."

If he didn't understand the last part, he didn't let it bother him.

"I see. I have wronged you, then," Loki agreed, smiling self-indulgently for reasons that Aubrey was to realize when he spoke next. "Am I to understand that your decision wasn't in the negative?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," she answered ambiguously. She refused to play by his tune. Loki's hand felt unreasonably heavy where it rested halfway on her shoulder and halfway on top of her collarbone. His hands were too gentle for a man who preferred to destruct rather than admire. It was wrong.

"You talked about releasing me?" she tried, her voice decidedly shakier than mere seconds ago.

"I spoke the truth when I said that time is not something I have at hand," he said, sounding almost regretful.

"Good," she replied curtly. "So release me."

"Impudent mortal," he murmured, stroking his thumb along the line of her neck and toying with the strands of hair that got caught in its path. "You do nothing to dissuade me while you should be doing everything. When I have the time, you can be certain that we will finish this."

He left her like that. She figured she would have to tell Tony about Loki's planned desertion from SHIELD. Once morning came around however, she was still struggling to breathe and wasn't even about to try her hand at speaking. If Tony noticed her odd behavior that morning, he probably brushed it off as it being work-related. After all, he did randomly order her to stay home that day.

* * *

Tony was the one to tell her when Loki defected for good.

Surprisingly, Fury didn't put much effort into reestablishing the truce. He had to have seen it coming. He probably felt proud that he had managed to keep Loki constrained for a little over a year. Thor was devastated and it reflected on Jane as well. Steve turned political and Bruce remained fairly indifferent, if not a little pleased. Natasha and Clint were definitely pleased. And how did Aubrey know? Because Fury had decided that he could find use for the woman who regularly communicated with the God of Mischief now that the man was running loose.

Thor approached her one day that she stopped by Avenger HQ.

"Aubrey Rivers," he greeted her, looking slightly uncomfortable. "You are my brother's woman."

"Is that some sort of official title? Because then I didn't get the memo."

"No," he answered seriously, clearly not getting her attempt at sarcasm. "Loki is very selective in his choice of women. You should feel honored."

She felt nothing of the sort. Luckily, Steve appeared in that moment and stepped in to do damage control.

"You realize that he is partially right," he said to her when Thor had taken off after apologizing almost too enthusiastically.

"I am my own person."

"Even so, one is never fully the sole master of oneself."

She didn't argue with that. She got the feeling that Steve was talking from experience and she didn't want to belittle that.

* * *

When it happened, she barely had the time to adjust to the idea.

She was browsing for apartments on her computer when Loki materialized next to her, a line of dried blood sticking to the side of his face which he seemed mostly unaware of. His entire being was focused on her, his eyes sizzling with green energy, and she knew that she would forever remember this moment no matter what the outcome might be.

"Gods do bleed," she exclaimed and reached up to rub off some of the caked blood. It peeled off in flakes, some sticking to her skin and others curling up into tiny balls, and the fact that he let her touch him so freely was a clue that something was terribly off. The fact that she did touch him so freely was a clue that something was off.

This time she didn't panic when he grabbed her. As the scenery around them changed into the surroundings that she vaguely remembered to be his place, she felt strangely relieved.

"Even when you are not there, you distract me," he hissed, eyes blazing into hers. "I do not like distractions."

She didn't hesitate.

"Is this the part where you kill me or the part where we have sex?"

She got her answer when he was suddenly in her space, tugging at the buttons of her blouse and feasting on her lips. She followed his lead. She always did. In some ways, they were both so very human.

* * *

The aftermath didn't feel like the turning point that she had expected. In fact, it felt fairly anti-climatic. But that couldn't be right. Not when the act itself had felt euphoric.

"Trouble in paradise?" Tony asked one morning.

"I found a place downtown that I can afford and which isn't roach infested," she answered distractedly, fiddling with her cup of coffee. "Do I need to hire a moving van or can you iron man my stuff there?"

"That rhymed. And I take it we're not discussing your mopey face then."

Her blank stare indicated her answer.

"Why don't you hire a moving van, fill it with your stuff, and I'll iron man that to your new place? They charge per hour, right? I would like to see their faces if we did that. Can we please do that?"

Perhaps she was lucky that Loki wouldn't bother tracking her to her new home.

* * *

**A/N:** This is the end. Despite the fact that I could easily add more, I choose to make this the end. However, since I've received such great responses for this fic, **I've decided to write a new multi-chaptered one**. I always intended for this story to be short, so instead of going against that intention of mine (and quite possibly ruin some of its greatness), I simply decide to write a new Avengers story (Loki/OC) that is NOT going to be short. Let's see how that works out, shall we?


End file.
